Book review: The Sea Detective

Published on Monday 11 July 2011 12:09

THERE comes a time when a novel raises the bar for a particular genre, and Mark Douglas-Home's debut The Sea Detective does just that for Scottish crime fiction. Elegantly written and compelling, it introduces a new, thoroughly modern hero into the crime-fighting canon.

THE SEA DETECTIVE

BY MARK DOUGLAS-HOME

Sandstone Press, 320pp, 17.99

Cal McGill is a PhD oceanography student with more than a passing interest in the debris found floating on the world's oceans. His interest in flotsam and jetsam leads him down several roads of discovery, from smashing an international paedophile ring to solving the mystery of his grandfather's death during the Second World War.

McGill is in no way a detective, a fact that makes his character all the more endearing. He is a normal man complete with flaws that come to light in his fraught relationship with his ex-wife, and is driven by both professional curiosity and personal passion.

In the midst of campaigning to bring polluters to justice, McGill is approached by Basanti, a young girl taken from her native Bengal and held captive by a paedophile ring in Scotland, who asks him to find out who murdered her companion, Preeti. Assisting McGill is the intellectually brilliant but socially awkward DC Helen Jamieson, who rebels against her egoistical boss DI David Ryan in order to help McGill in his search for Preeti's killers. The novel moves effortlessly between Bengal and Scotland, keeping the narrative fast-paced but without losing any sense of intimacy.

McGill's investigation into his grandfather's death in the Second World War runs alongside the thread of international wrongdoing; his emotional ties to Scottish history and culture call into question just how much history can be trusted, and how much family matters.

Douglas-Home's style is calm one moment and impassioned and stormy the next, like the ocean itself. His subject matter is diligently researched and is convincingly realistic, especially in showing Cal's technological competence, which is the key to much of his success. But this isn't at the expense of neglecting a deeper examination of trust, guilt and prejudice.

The final twists of the novel satisfy the craving for a suitable ending, serving notice that this is one Scottish crime writer to watch.